Secret Years: A Screening and Discussion with the Filmmakers

LGBTQ culture in Eastern Europe was transformed in the liberal post-Soviet era. Today, a turn toward reactionary political and religious ideologies is threatening the recently found freedom of queer Eastern Europe. A two-part series will explore queer culture, activism and contemporary histories in the region.

During the repressive Cold War era, most lesbians in Hungary lived clandestine lives. After the fall of communism in 1989, lesbians experienced a brief period of openness. Today, growing hostility to sexual minorities has again forced many lesbians in Hungary to hide their identities. Secret Years is a 2009 documentary that includes rare interviews with multiple generations of lesbians living in Hungary. The first Hungarian documentary of its kind, Secret Years explores lesbian responses to the successive waves of repression, openness and radical conservatism that have shaped Hungarian society in the recent past. The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmakers Anna Borgos and Mária Takács.